Good Life Project

Born into a family of conservationists and trackers in South Africa, Boyd Varty (https://boydvarty.com/) began learning the art of tracking lions at a young age. Not for hunting, but rather as a devotion. And, eventually, as a scout for guides to bring guests into the wilderness in search of seeing animals, most often lions, in a protected environment. Through the process, learning to connect deeply with the land and natural environment, he discovered how to see and follow threads that often took hours, if not days, to lead to a majestic and wild end. But, when it came to his own life, he found himself shut down after trauma, operating on autopilot until a chance encounter with Martha Beck changed everything and opened his eyes to the possibility of using his skills as a tracker to find his way back into a life of meaning, joy and connection. Now, a storyteller, coach, tracker, activist, founder of the Good Work Foundation and the author of The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life (https://amzn.to/2Ov4jnJ), he's on a mission to help others find their own paths to healing, wholeness and wildness or, in his words, to “Track Your Life.”-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Liz Phair took the music world by storm (https://www.lizphairofficial.com/) in the early 90s with the release of her iconic album Exile in Guyville. That, along with her self-produced Girly Sound tapes, landed her on the cover of Rolling Stone and launched a decades-long career in music. Now, a multi-Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, guitarist, and composer, mom and mentor to so many, Phair’s new memoir, Horror Stories (https://amzn.to/2MY7ulD), gives a glimpse into so many of the hidden moments that shaped her journey. In today's conversation, we touch down on these, and also explore how Liz's lens on life, meaning, music, creativity, quitting, complexity and spirituality has evolved over time.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James S. Gordon, MD is a Harvard-educated psychiatrist internationally recognized for using self-awareness, self-care, and group support to heal population-wide trauma. He is the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Center for Mind-Body Medicine, (https://jamesgordonmd.com/), a clinical professor at Georgetown Medical School, and was chairman of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. His latest book, The Transformation (https://amzn.to/31Xi5nl), helps us understand that trauma will come sooner or later to all of us, and how to navigate it.Gordon has been on the ground during moments of profound upheaval, from Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love to Mozambique in the wake of a civil war fought largely by child soldiers, and war in the Balkans, the Middle East, Africa and more. In today’s conversation, he talks about what it’s like to lead teams in hands-on trauma prevention and integration work in these extremely challenging environments, as well as his hopes for re-humanizing medicine, choosing risks over betraying the self, and the incredible power we have to heal in community.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Augusten Burroughs knows how to keep a secret. An autodidact with no formal education (https://www.augusten.com/) beyond elementary school, he began working as a copywriter in his late teens and spent 18 years creating global ad campaigns. Behind the scenes, though, he was falling apart, an alcoholic, harboring the effects of what he describes as a wildly-chaotic, abusive and destructive childhood that he'd eventually detail in the massive New York Times bestseller-turned major motion picture, Running With Scissors (https://amzn.to/2qkxRus).He's since written numerous follow-on memoirs and novels, and crafted a life as a successful writer. But, there was one area Augusten never told anyone about, even his husband. Until one day, it literally came bursting onto the page. It was time to "come clean" with this one final, and deeply-provocative part of himself, detailed in his new memoir, Toil & Trouble (https://amzn.to/32mSkNk). In today's conversation, we unwrap the layers that led Augusten from a traumatic childhood through to his wild successes, the life-saving role that writing played in his recovery from alcoholism, what it’s like to navigate the world with atypical sensitivities, and finding the gift among the unfixable things in life.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Reshma Saujani is the Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code (https://girlswhocode.com/), the nonprofit organization working to close the gender gap in technology and change the image of what a computer programmer looks like and does. She is the author of three books (http://reshmasaujani.com/), including Brave, Not Perfect (https://amzn.to/33hlNbH), New York Times bestseller Girls Who Code: Learn to Code and Change the World (https://amzn.to/33f9JaT), and Women Who Don't Wait In Line. Her TED talk, "Teach girls, bravery not perfection," has more than four million views and has sparked a worldwide conversation about how we're raising our girls.Reshma's earned broad recognition for her work as an attorney, activist, and advocate for young women, including Fortune World's Greatest Leaders; Fortune 40 Under 40; WSJ Magazine Innovator of the Year; Forbes Most Powerful Women Changing the World; Fast Company 100 Most Creative People; and Crain's New York 40 Under 40, among others.Join us today to hear how a young, outsider Indian girl in Chicago who was expected by her family to grow into a quiet, unassuming life, now regularly battles tech giants and thinks nothing of going to the White House to speak out for the rights and opportunities denied to young women. It's a great conversation about navigating cultural and familial expectations, how things that initially appear to be devastating losses can actually lead to some truly unexpected opportunities, and the beauty of living brave, not perfect.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cyndie Spiegel was a rising star in the fashion industry. Fifteen years in, living the life so many dream of, she made a bold decision. To walk-away from her career and, in no small part, her life, in order to create the space to step into a powerful new season of contribution and connection. Now flourishing and more fully-alive than ever, she's a keynote speaker and author with a focus on empowerment, culture and inclusion (http://www.cyndiespiegel.com/), community-organizer, and founder Dear Grown Ass Women™ (http://www.deargrownasswomen.com/), a movement to redefine and elevate the diversity of Xennial & GenX women. Speigel is also regularly featured in publications like Entrepreneur, Forbes, Glamour Magazine, Teen Vogue and The Huffington Post, and is the author of A Year of Positive Thinking: Daily Inspiration, Wisdom, and Courage (https://amzn.to/2lKiLfO).-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist and professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business (https://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/jonathan-haidt) who researches the intuitive foundations of morality, and how morality varies across cultures –– including the cultures of progressive, conservatives, and libertarians. His goal is to help people understand each other, live and work near each other, and even learn from each other despite their moral differences. He’s written several books, including The Happiness Hypothesis (https://amzn.to/2VnpXvM), The Righteous Mind (https://amzn.to/2MfbfTe) and The Coddling the American Mind (https://amzn.to/33f6e4i), and co-founded a variety of organizations and collaborations that apply moral and social psychology to help foster connection among disparate groups. In today’s conversation, we talk about everything from deconstructing happiness to changing attitudes towards adversity to what it means to truly flourish — and the critical importance of connection, community, and relationship-building in the face of profound differences as a part of a good life.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Madison McFerrin is an independent singer-songwriter (http://madisonmcferrin.com/) based in Brooklyn, NY, who's lit up the world with her distinctively soulful voice and arrangements. Raised in music by her father, legendary vocalist Bobby McFerrin, Madison knew she was going to be a singer from the age of 5 and was on her path, learning, performing, finding her own unique voice and building her career.But after a very public national anthem performance went sideways, she found herself facing an onslaught of viral, online hate from thousands of anonymous critics as well as some of the biggest names in music. She had to decide exactly how she wanted to keep sharing her gift with the world. Rather than hiding, she took the critics on by releasing powerful new a capella tracks that wowed listeners, turned the tide, and set her off on a new musical direction. She is currently building on her momentum, pairing her timeless voice with modern production on her new project, You + I, which quickly had its lead single "TRY" (http://smarturl.it/TRY-single) rack up 560K+ views in her debut COLORS session.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Danny Clinch has played with, photographed, and filmed some of the most iconic musicians in modern history, including Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Tupac Shakur, and Johnny Cash. Acclaimed as one of the top photographers in the music scene (http://www.dannyclinch.com/) for decades and the recipient of 3 Grammy Award nominations himself, Danny’s work has appeared everywhere in Vanity Fair, Spin, Rolling Stone, and GQ, as well as numerous galleries. He recently founded the Transparent Gallery (https://www.facebook.com/dannyclinchtransparent/) at the Asbury Hotel to showcase music and culture in the area, along with his annual Sea.Hear.Now music and art festival (https://www.seahearnowfestival.com/).In addition to his camera, the other thing Danny Clinch never leaves home without is his harmonica. He doesn't just love photographing musicians, he's also a long-time lover and creator of music, playing with his own band and sitting in with many of the amazing people he photographs. In today’s conversation, we talk about the complete coincidence that led to him first picking up a camera, how he honed his chops under Annie Leibovitz and other legends in the biz, and the power of place and devotion in shaping who we become.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bridgett M. Davis (http://bridgettdavis.com/)grew up in the high-stakes mix of Motown, motor-city unions, and racial tension that was Detroit in the 1960s and 70s, watching her mother, Fannie, run a neighborhood numbers game that provided for the family and the community. After leaving Detroit for New York City, she honed her craft as a journalist, novelist, and screenwriter, with her most recent work, The World According To Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life In The Detroit Numbers (https://amzn.to/2ZMJ430), paying tribute to her mother’s ingenuity and care under world-shifting circumstances. Join us to hear Davis share her journey from the troubled city of her upbringing to award-winning author and professor, and the incredible through-line of compassion, generosity, and tangible acts of love that saw her through it.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.